1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a combination of a guiding plate for laterally supporting a rail for a rail vehicle and a wedge element for adjusting the position of the rail relative to a counter-bearing, on which the guiding plate is supported in the assembly position, the guiding plate having an end face which is associated with the wedge element and which extends in the longitudinal direction of the rail to be supported and a lower side which is associated with a substrate which carries the guiding plate in an assembly position, the guiding plate and the wedge element being coupled to each other by means of a positive-locking connection which forms for the wedge element a guide in which the wedge element can be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the end face of the guiding plate.
The invention also relates to a system for securing a rail for a rail vehicle to a substrate, which comprises a combination of a guiding plate for laterally supporting the rail on a counter-bearing which is formed on the substrate and a wedge element for adjusting the position of the rail relative to the counter-bearing.
2. Description of Related Art
With the wedge element which is present in such a system, the spacing of the respective guiding plate relative to the support face can be determined. Owing to the wedge shape thereof, the adjustment element can be moved, from a position in which the spacing of the guiding plate and accordingly the rail from the respective support face is minimal, readily into a position in which a maximum spacing is provided. Between these extreme positions of the adjustment member, other adjustment positions can be selected which each determine a different spacing of the rail relative to the stop face and accordingly another track width.
A significant property of a system which is described, for example, in DE 101 57 676 A1 and which comprises a wedge element for adjusting the position of the guiding plate is that, after completed assembly, the connection between the guiding plate and the adjustment element is so secure that an unintentional relative movement of these two elements is prevented. To this end, in the known system, the abutment faces of the wedge element and guiding plate that are associated with each other have catch-like projections and recesses which are each orientated in an assembly position perpendicularly relative to the fixed substrate and engage one inside the other in such a manner that the wedge element is coupled to the guiding plate in a positive-locking manner by means of the projections and recesses which engage one inside the other. At the same time, it is ensured by the vertical orientation of the projections and recesses that the wedge element, even under the action of the longitudinal and transverse forces to which it is subjected during operation, retains its originally adjusted position.
For the possibility of being able to adjust the position of the respective guiding plate relative to the respective support face over a specific play, a complex assembly and disassembly of the entire system must be accepted in the prior art described above.
DE 10 2007 044 098 B3 describes a combination and a system of the type set out in the introduction, in which this disadvantage no longer exists. To this end, in this known combination of a guiding plate and wedge element, there are formed, on the faces at which the guiding plate and the wedge element are in mutual abutment in the assembly position, projections and recesses which engage in a positive-locking manner one inside the other, and which, when the wedge element is in the assembled state, extend parallel with the upper side of the level fixed substrate. The projections and recesses which are accordingly orientated in a horizontal manner in the assembly position enable the wedge element and guiding plate to be displaced with respect to each other, without the entire rail securing system having to be disassembled for this purpose. With the known combination, the wedge element can thus already be displaced after the clamping forces acting on the guiding plate have been released. Under the action of the clamping forces, however, the angled guiding plate applies to the wedge element a pressing force which is directed against the fixed substrate, as a result of which self-locking occurs in the region of the positive-locking connection between the guiding plate and wedge element. This effect can be reinforced by a plurality of projection/recess pairs being constructed on the mutually associated faces of the guiding plate and wedge element and by there being formed on the guiding plate a shoulder which presses on the wedge element in the completely assembled state.
The advantages achieved with the configuration described above are countered in practice by the disadvantage that the assembly is also comparatively difficult therein. For instance, the guiding plate must firstly be arranged on the respective substrate and the wedge element must subsequently be positioned on the guiding plate in a correctly fitting manner. The wedge element then rests loosely on the guiding plate until the rail is positioned, and the wedge element is retained between the rail base and the guiding plate. Under the rough conditions which are found in practice at the track construction site, owing to collision with the rail or another object, the wedge element repeatedly slides inadvertently and thus makes the positionally accurate orientation thereof more difficult. This is the case in particular when the assembly of the known system is intended to be carried out in a completely or partially automated manner.